Kalamazoo-area professionals weigh in on meth problem in Southwest Michigan

Dr. James Kraatz of Bronson Methodist Hospital was among the area professionals who participated in Thursday's live chat about the meth problem in Southwest Michigan.Mickey Ciokajlo | MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO, MI -- A panel of Kalamazoo-area professionals gathered Thursday to discuss the issue of methamphetamine in Southwest Michigan.

The panel discussion included medical, substance abuse, law enforcement and social services professionals, who chatted about everything from why meth is a problem in the Kalamazoo area to treatment of meth burns and how police are working to shut down meth-making.

Dr. James Kraatz, who works in Bronson Methodist Hospital's Trauma Unit, explained why meth burn patients require more treatment in comparison to the typical burn patient.

"For a given burn size, meth patients tend
to be substantially sicker, require more aggressive initial critical
care and have a longer hospital length of stay," Kraatz said. These patients need to be decontaminated to
prevent ongoing chemical injury to themselves and potential injury to
those caring for them."

Meth production inside homes also impacts children living there. Robert Peck, director of Kalamazoo County Department of Human Services, said children removed from meth houses need to be decontaminated and then face many difficulties.

Peck said often children removed from homes are allowed to take a favorite blanket or stuffed animal with them from the home to ease the transition, but that is impossible for children taken from homes where meth was being made due to the toxic materials.

"That increases the trauma of the removal," Peck said. "It is really sad."

Lt. Mike Harvitt with the Michigan State Police discussed law enforcement's approach to fighting meth. He said a 2012 law that requires purchasers of pseudoephedrine to enter their names into a NPLEx database has helped in meth investigations.

But Harvitt said he believes making pseudoephdrine prescription-only would be even more effective in controlling meth production.

It would work because without
pseudoephedrine you cannot make meth," Harvitt said. "Statistics from other states that
have done this show that it almost stopped the meth problem. Oregon is
an example. They went from hundreds of labs in one year to 3 the next
year after it was made a prescription med.

Many MLive commenters have expressed the opinion that meth should be legalized, putting an end to the war on drugs.

The panel disagreed with that assessment.

The damage done to many individuals is not about whether the drug is legal or not," said Mindie Smith, senior executive for substance disorder services with Kalamazoo County Community Mental Health. "Often times court involvement due to a drug arrest is the thing that brings people to the life-saving treatment they need."

One commenter asked the question that is on the minds of everyone involved in the fight against meth: Why is the drug so much more of a problem in Southwest Michigan in comparison to the rest of the state?

Smith suggested that Kalamazoo's location could be part of the reason.

Kalamazoo sits as a half way point between Chicago and Detroit," she said. "Our easily accessibility, as well as being an
urban center near many rural counties, make this area attractive for
people to come to. I believe that these factors bring many types of
substances to our community, not just methamphetamine."

Whatever the reason for Kalamazoo's drug problem, it won't go away without a community effort, said Tonya Collins, coordinator for the Kalamazoo County substance abuse task force.

"Prevention, intervention, treatment, and
law enforcement service agencies will continue to do our best to keep up
with the increasing number of community members that would produce,
sell, and abuse illegal drugs," Collins said. "In fact, in recent years, these groups in
Kalamazoo County have joined forces to increase local capacity and
readiness to address our community's substance abuse-related safety and
health issues."